The tourism-food security relationship is an essential research consideration that lies at the heart of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Despite the claim that food insecurity situations can be alleviated through tourism-based alternative livelihoods, empirical evidence concerning the dynamics of the tourism-food relationship is limited. This research brings tourism and food security to the fore and asks how the generally accepted tourism discourses resonate with the reality on the ground with respect to tourism being an important vector of change in contributing to rural food security. This thesis thus addresses the prospects of tourism contributing to food security in a developing world context, taking three rural districts in Ethiopia as a case study. It explores the pathways through which tourism contributes to food security and examines the food security outcomes resulting from tourism interactions (measured using the household food insecurity access scale [HFIAS] and food consumption score [FCS]).

The study utilised a parallel mixed methods approach that comprised the quantitative data collection tools of a cross-sectional household survey and qualitative data collection tools of key informant interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. The quantitative element of this research analysed the food security roles of tourism development using the data collected from 630 randomly selected households in two tourism sites and one non-tourism site. Participation in tourism was used to gauge the food security of ‘tourism participant’ households compared to ‘non-tourism participant’ households in the tourism sites. The qualitative aspect of this research design generated information critical for a deeper understanding of the process and mechanisms through which tourism could influence the food security of the local communities.

The study results show that tourism benefits in general appear to be small and limited to a very few community members. Although local community members consider tourism as a means of income to support their food security, they seldom rely on tourism alone. The majority of local communities regarded agriculture as an important means of livelihood for their food security. It is evident that, although the development of tourism in the study sites has met with some incremental progress in advancing food security, this has nevertheless been significantly limited. The results obtained from statistical modelling show that participation in tourism has a positive effect on households’ food security. Households that participated in tourism are marginally more likely than non-participant households to be food secure. The role of tourism development on household food security using the HFIAS was not statistically significant. However, the probit analysis for FCS found that tourism development had a negative effect on households’ food security status compared to the non-tourism households. The findings suggest that several factors limit the food security role of tourism, including a weak tourism-local food supply chain, resource use conflicts, lack of tourism products with better value, ineffective institutional structures and organizational processes, lack of a common focus on food security by key organizations, lack of coordination and cooperation, and capacity problems including human resources.

By investigating the tourism-food security linkages using parallel mixed methods research, this study contributes to a body of conceptual and methodological knowledge related to tourism development and food security in developing world contexts and beyond. The findings of this thesis significantly extend our knowledge of the pathways through which tourism contributes to, or lessens, food security, and highlights pathways for future development of tourism that may address the food security challenges of communities. The research offers useful policy-relevant practical guidance for promoting sustainable development.